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Thursday, March 10, 2016

Ever since Fallout 3 came out, I wanted my very own caps. I wanted to have a little piece of the wasteland to call my own. something I could put in my pocket or on my keys that was my little reminder of the many hours spent in the wasteland. Now that Fallout 4 is out, it rekindled that desire to make a little piece of the wasteland.

The difference between now and then? Well back then I had the desire but not so much the means. Now I have a full shop and years of experience.

I started how nearly everyone does when they want some caps of there own, the internet. I looked at many different tutorials and templates. I even tried the print it out on some sticker paper and slap it on some caps. here's a pic or two of that.

Don't get me wrong for a hobbyist, these work great. However there are many issues down the line with these. Let's make a quick list here.

Pros:

Very easy to make

Readily available materials (coke cap and some sticker paper and your good)

Very little know how needed, cut and stick then maybe some scratching

Cons:

let me preface this with I always want the best possible product

when aging you very quickly notice the problems with sticker paper.

sticker can come off

ink can bleed

forget it if it gets wet.

keep it in a pocket with some keys for a day and nuka become coke real quick.

they look good at a distance upon close inspection, the illusion is gone

I liked them but not what I wanted. I set out to make the best Caps I could. I wanted them to be a step above the rest.
I bought myself some blank red caps. I thought to myself how do I get the nuka cola logo on these and make it last. Stencil? Sure I could make that work but the time I'd spend on each cap wouldn't make it cost effective. Hand painted? While I could I think the time and the amount that I would likely mess up, again not cost effective. Finally it dawned on me. Why not just stamp the suckers. At first I tried to overcomplicate this process as I have the habit of doing. I could make it like this, or maybe like this. After a few failed attempts this project got put on the back burners again.

Until one day my lovely wife looked at me and said "why don't you just get a stamp made" ... yep for some reason this obvious solution had not crossed my mind. Within an hour I had found a place submitted the design and put my order in. Months of putting it off solved in about an hour.

A few days later my stamp as well as the ink had shown up on my doorstep.
Now at this point I still had some reservations, I wasn't sure if the ink was going to be as durable as I was looking for. Of course there is only one way to know, I pulled out a handful of caps and started at it. To my amazement I got it right on the first try, the ink dried quickly and seemed pretty durable.

I had to, of course, put it through the wringer to make sure that it was exactly what I was looking for. I proceeded to put a bunch of caps in my tumbler, barely any wear. Next I added rough ceramic medium in with them, I had my concerns they would come out sanded down to metal. After about an hour, again barely any where on them. Now I was pretty happen with my ink, however because they were proving so durable my plans to quickly age them through tumbler or other wise didn't seem it was going to work.

After brainstorming with a friend and about 4 hours of trying to scratch these guys up they showed next to no wear. Turns out my best way of making these guys look like they had come from the wasteland was, believe it or not a PVC Pipe (to hold the cap on) a rock from the backyard, and a bit of elbow grease.

So I now present to you my Fallout Caps in there "Preserved" and aged wasteland conditions.
Available for purchase at the link below the pictures.

Buy your own Cap stash direct from me for a limited time.
(please not price is per cap, the price was kept low so you can but your own stash and not break the bank)

Aged or Preserved

Color

Decided I needed one for my keys
You can pick up your own here with the link below

These guys are more than a step above the went beyond even my ideals. These will wear and tear better than any out there. Considering you never know when you could wake up in the wasteland where these beauts will be the only currency you stock up today.

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About Me

I suppose I am an artist at heart, fascinated with steampunk and dieselpunk recently.In the last year have been creating wondrous steam punk guns, weapons, picture frames and armor. I would like to share this with those out there that may appreciate it.